NS-45 45mm cannon

Another design by
A.E.Nudel'man and A.A.Suranov and in fact simply an enlarged
NS-37. This gun became available in
1944
It is also known under the designations 11-P-45, NS-P-45 and OKB-16-45. It proved to be an effective
weapon against ground and aerial targets, but was not very reliable. Its recoil was 40% greater than
that of the NS-37, thus further increasing the problems encountered there
with the recoil, especially when the gun was installed in small aircraft like single-seat fighters.

A small pre-production batch of NS-45-equipped (with 15 rounds, another source states 29 rounds)
Yak-9K fighters was built at the beginning of
1944
for service evaluation. But due to the troubles caused by the recoil (only one-shot-"salvos" could be
fired at near top speed without seriously affecting aircraft handling and the stress imposed on the
aircraft's structure often caused leakages and cracks of water and oil pipes) this version did not go
into mass production. Furthermore, the "universal" gun mounts of the TK and UT variants of the
Yak-9 were able to accommodate the usual guns from 20 to 45mm caliber
with only minor modifications to the attachment points and ammunition supply and there may have been
some examples equipped with NS-45 guns, too. There were also prototype installations of the NS-45 in
a Yak-3 and an Il-2.